Dr.Danelle Haake
RiverWatch Director and Stream Ecologist
I am the Director of Illinois RiverWatch, a community science program that teaches volunteers to monitor water quality in their local streams by examining stream habitats and identifying the numbers and kinds of aquatic macroinvertebrates that live there. My involvement with community science at NGRREC also includes coordination of the Winter Chloride Watchers, who monitor road salt impacts on rivers, streams, and ponds; the revision of Stream Discovery as an introduction to RiverWatch; and the leadership of a 10-year mussel monitoring project in the upper Sangamon River. In addition to these programs, I conduct research in stream ecology with a focus on aquatic invertebrates. Recent work includes studies of the impacts of road salt on aquatic macroinvertebrate communities, an exploration of the long-term changes in freshwater mussel assemblages in the Sangamon River, an evaluation of the diversity of dragonflies and damselflies in Illinois, and studies of small invertebrates in streams, wetlands, and Mississippi River backwaters. My work occurs at the confluence of NGRREC’s three pillars: Education, Research, and Outreach. Our community science programs educate individuals about water quality and provide resources to educators who bring this science into the classroom. The research in my lab includes both traditional studies of aquatic populations and projects that engage volunteers in the study of local mussel assemblages. Our public engagement includes outreach to the public at community festivals, to salt-using municipalities at public works forums, to our volunteers in newsletters and online speaker series, and to scientists at conferences and webinars.
Email: dhaake@lc.edu
https://dhaake.weebly.com/
B.S. Biology, Missouri State University; M.S. Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Iowa State University; Ph.D. Biology, Saint Louis University
